Macrofauna diversity across the nearshore of the East of Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait in Nunavut

Agassiz trawl was deployed from the CCGS Amundsen to collect macrofauna. Catches were passed through a 2 mm mesh sieve. When possible, specimens were identified to the lowest taxonomic level, then count and weight. The unidentified specimens were preserved in a 4% seawater-formalin solution.

Box corer was deployed to quantitatively sample diversity, abundance and biomass of infauna and to sample sediment. Sediments of a surface area of 0.125 m2 and 10-15 cm in depth were collected and sieved through a 0.5 mm mesh and preserved in a 4% formaldehyde solution for further identification in the laboratory. Sub-cores of sediments were collected for sediment pigment content, organic matter, sediment grain size, porosity; for sediment pigments, the top 1 cm was collected, although for sediment grain size, the top 5 cm was collected. Sediment pigment samples were frozen at -80°C, and porosity, organic matter and sediment grain size samples were frozen at -20°C.